Emphasis on the title: Professor (Was: Who calls Voldemort "Lord")

[coldsliversofglass]

No: HPFGUIDX 150976

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Maria Holub <sopraniste at ...> 
wrote:
>
>Doesn't Dobby also call Voldemort 'the dark lord' as
>well?  Can't quite picture Dobby as a Death Eater.. Too short.  Like
>Sirius said, the world is not divided neatly into normal people and 
>death eaters.  People read too much into titles and who uses them.  
>Harry is after all, often reminded to call his teachers 'professor' 
>or 'sir'.  You don't see other kids having to be reminded to show 
>respect to their teachers by using their titles.

 
>> Flop:
>> Again, I feel there's a fairly simple explanation for
>> this. Dobby was the MALFOYS House Elf for who knows
>> how many years. I can't imagine Lucius Malfoy ever
>> even THINKING of The Dark Lord as "You-Know-Who" so if
>> ever he was mentioned he would have been referred to
>> as The Dark Lord.
 
>> Here's a thought. Do we know anything about the
>> lifespans of House Elves? Because some of the things
>> Dobby said about the plight of House Elves before
>> Harry triumphed over Voldemort in VW1 kind of implies
>> that he (Dobby) was AROUND for VW1, and likely already
>> belonged to the Malfoys. Bears thinking about, doesn't
>> it?...

coldsliversofglass:
I shudder to think about any House Elf being forced to work for the 
Malfoys for so long...poor Dobby, if he was around for all that.  

As for the title part, I have to wonder if part of Harry's need to be 
reminded to call his professors by their title involves Harry's 
upbringing.  I mean, if you're locked in a cupboard for 11 years and 
your relatives keep you out of sight I think manners will be stunted 
in some ways: titles, especially, and Dobby's use of "Dark Lord" 
seems to exemplify the fact that we're taught how to address others 
(by how they address themselves to us, or how those around us refer 
to them)...which I think is the point Flop was making.

Also, I may be wrong, but I thought that Harry's slips in addressing 
his professors usually center around the issues he has with them.  I 
mean, he hates Snape, so he feels no need to show him the respect 
that the title conveys.  I think he did the same when he was 
mentioning Quirrel (In an, 'he's an enemy, not my professor' kind of 
way).  He may've slipped with Hagrid too, but if so I would imagine 
that's because of how close he is to Hagrid (Hagrid having introduced 
him to the wizarding world and having given him his first cake and 
birthday present).  Did anyone else notice this pattern, or were 
there other slips that I overlooked that might negate the pattern?